The title of this film is a play on words. By adding an "i" to the expression coup d'etat (government throw over)in a few Latin languages, "coup d'etat" becomes "coup de stade" or stadium throw over. Unfortunately, the impact of its title, the first of the many "coups" this film throws, is lost in English. Nevertheless, this award-winning European-Colombian co-production, and the most successful Colombian film ever, is full of other satire that is easy to understand: intelligent, and hilarious. Soccer (football), as usual the common denominator of people worldwide except in the US, serves as the pretense to dish out most of the most notorious social problems in the country. Exploitation by multi nationals, these companies complicity with the guerrillas and thus with the drug lords, the innocence of the common people who are most affected by these forces beyond their control, corruption, prostitution, poverty, and the like, are actually made quite funny. Much needed by the country's population as comic relief, this movie is a scathing political and social satire of all the parties involved in the nation's seemingly unsurmountable problems. A great cast play out a dynamite script in the hinterlands of the country where all the different forces interact. What brings them "together" is their passion for soccer, and in this film, finding a way to see the 1994 qualifying match between the Colombian national team and Argentina rises above all differences, to become the top priority. A riot!
Review of Golpe de estadio
